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THE TRIBUTES TO THE

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1921
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FROM THE
LONDON TIMES

OCT. 18, 1921

"/ feel sure that if just what
occurred, with all the sentiment and
feeling that went with it, could be
conveyed to the people of Great
Britain all over the world and the
people of America, it would go far
toward uniting them in a common
sympathy and in a common purpose. 11

GENERAL PERSHING
London
October 17, 1921

'

THE DECORATION BY GENERAL PERSHING
OF THE GRAVE OF

THE UNKNOWN BRITISH WARRIOR
IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY

AND THE AWARD OF
THE VICTORIA CROSS

TO THE

AMERICAN UNKNOWN

LONDON

OCTOBER 17, 1921

Reprinted from the London Times of October 18, 1921
by BANKERS TRUST COMPANY, New York

THE CEREMONY IN
WESTMINSTER ABBEY

as described by the London Times in its issue of October 18, 1921

Yesterday morning General Persh-
ing laid the Congressional Medal of
Honour on the grave of the Unknown
British Warrior in Westminster Abbey.
The simple and beautiful ceremony
seemed full of the promise of new and
happier times. And what we call
Nature appeared to have laid her
approval on the hopes that it aroused.

That the United States should con-
fer on an unknown British Warrior the
highest military honour that can be
bestowed by its Government that
jealously guarded and rarely granted
Medal of Honour, which can only be
won "at the risk of life, above and
beyond the call of duty"; that Con-
gress should pass a special Act en-
abling this honour to be paid to one
who was not a citizen of the United
States; that by the request and in
the presence of the American Am-
bassador the medal should be laid
upon the tomb by the hand of the
great soldier who is now the successor
of Washington, Grant, Sherman, and
Sheridan as General of the Armies of

the United States, and that the cere-
mony should take place while the
eyes of all the world are turned to the
coming Congress at Washington
*

Here is great matter for pride and
hope; and it seemed to be by some-
thing more than mere accident or the
working of unalterable law that, just
at the beginning of the ceremony, the
sun should stream down, in its nat-
ural gold, through a window not yet
painted, upon the Union Jack that
was spread at the foot of the Unknown
Warrior's grave.

The ancient mystery of the great
Abbey is never wholly dispelled by
the light of day. Yesterday, as ever,
she preserved her immemorial secrets
and her ever brooding silence; yet
brightness, colour, confidence were
the notes of the ceremony; and, con-
trasting the sunshine of yesterday
with the tragic gloom remembered on
other occasions since August, 1914,
one could not but believe that the
externals matched the inner truth of

3-

the act, and that the modern history
which, as the Dean of Westminster
reminded us, began with the war in
which the Unknown Warrior gave his
life was about , through him and his like ,
to bring joy and peace to the world.
With the Union Jack at its foot and
the wreaths bestowed about its edge,
the stone that temporarily covers the
Unknown Warrior's grave near the
west end of the Abbey was bare, save
for a little case full of rosaries and
sacred emblems that lies at its head.
The space about it was shut off from
the rest of the Nave by a barrier,
through which passed only those who
had been specially invited to seats of
honour round the grave.

The Nave was packed with people
facing north and south, and lined with
soldiers and sailors of the United
States Army and Navy, among them
some of General Pershing's picked
battalion, strapping fellows in khaki
or blue, who seemed to have all the
smartness and the immobility to
which we are accustomed in British
troops on such occasions.

At ii o'clock the band of H. M.
Scots Guards, stationed at the south-
east end of the Nave, began to play
under the direction of Lieutenant F.
W. Wood, a selection of classical and
modern music; and the congregation,

while listening, took note of the emin-
ent persons as they arrived. Mr. Win-
ston Churchill came early and walked
down the Nave . Earl Haig slipped in
almost unnoticed by a door in the
South Aisle. Colonel Sir Henry Streat-
field, representing Queen Alexandra,
took his place on one of two chairs
that were set under the westernmost
pillar on the south side. Then came
the Duke of Connaught, representing
the King, and he was ushered by Mr.
E. F. Knapp-Fisher, chapter clerk,
to the other chair, close to the grave.
The choir and the clergy, in their
scarlet cassocks under white surplices,
assembled about the grave; the Dean,
Archdeacon Charles, Canons Barnes,
Storr, and de Candole, the Rev. H. F.
Westlake, custodian, and the Rev.
Jocelyn Perkins, sacrist, the Precentor
and the Organist of Westminster
Abbey. Thence they went up the
Nave to the north door, to await the
arrival of General Pershing.

Very soon after half -past n those
near the grave could hear from the
far end of the Abbey the voices of the
choir singing the processional hymn,
"The Supreme Sacrifice," of which
the author is Mr /John S. Arkwright.
As the procession passed through the
barrier to the graveside, behind the
Dean came the American Ambassador,

4

General Pershing, Admirals Niblack
and Twining, and Major Oscar N.
Solbert , Military Attache of the Amer-
ican Embassy; then Mr. Lloyd George
(attended by Lieutenant-Colonel Sir
E. W. M. Grigg), Lord Lee of Fare-
ham, First Lord of the Admiralty,

Sir L. Worthington-Evans, Secretary
of State for War, and Captain F. E.
Guest, Secretary of State for Air.
Rising from his seat, the Duke of
Connaught shook hands with the dis-
tinguished Americans; and then the
ceremony proper began.

FROM THE AMERICAN AMBASSADOR

Backed by a row of A bbey dignitaries were the Dean of West-
minster, the American Ambassador, and General Pershing,
standing at the gravehead, and facing up the great church. At
the invitation of the Dean, the American Ambassador then spoke
as follows:

By an Act of the Congress of the
United States, approved on March 4
of the present year, the President was
authorized "to bestow, with appro-
priate ceremonies, military and civil,
a Medal of Honour upon the unknown
unidentified British soldier buried in
Westmister Abbey." The purpose of
Congress was declared by the Act it-
self, in these words:

"Animated by the same spirit of
comradeship in which we of the
American forces fought alongside of
our Allies, we desire to add whatever
we can to the imperishable glory won
by the deeds of our Allies and com-
memorated in part by this tribute to
their unknown dead."

The Congressional Medal, as it is
commonly termed because it is the
only medal presented "in the name of
Congress," symbolizes the highest
military honour that can be bestowed
by the Government of the United
States. It corresponds to the Vic-
toria Cross and can be awarded only
to an American warrior who achieves
distinction "at the risk of life, above
and beyond the call of duty."

A special Act of Congress was re-
quired to permit the placing of it
upon the tomb of a British soldier.
The significance of this presentation,
therefore, is twofold. It comprises,
in addition to. the highest military
tribute, a message of fraternity direct

5

from the American people, through
their chosen representatives in Con-
gress, to the people of the British
Empire.

There were two soldiers. One was
British. The other was American.
They fought under different flags,
but upon the same vast battlefield.
Their incentives and ideals were identi-
cal. They were patriot warriors
sworn to the defence and preservation
of the countries which they loved
beyond their own lives. Each realized
that the downfall of his own free land
would presage the destruction of all
liberty. Both were conscious of the
blessings that had flowed from the
English Magna Charta and the Ameri-
can Constitution.

Well they knew that the oblitera-
tion of either would involve the
extinguishment of the other. So with
consciences as clear as their eyes and
with hearts as clean as their hands
they could stand and did stand
shoulder to shoulder hi common
battle for their common race and
common cause. There was nothing
singular, nothing peculiar, about
them. They typified millions so like
to themselves as to constitute a
mighty host of undistinguishable fight-
ing men of hardy stock. A tribute to
either is a tribute to all.

Though different in rank, these two
soldiers were as one in patriotism,
in fidelity, in honour, and in courage.
They were comrades in the roar of
battle. They are comrades in the
peace of this sacred place. One, the
soldier of the Empire, made the su-
preme sacrifice, and, to the glory of the
country whose faith he kept, he lies
at rest in this hallowed ground en-
shrined in grateful memory. The
other, equally noble and equally
beloved, is by my side. Both live and
will ever live in the hearts of their
countrymen.

What more fitting than that this
soldier of the great Republic should
place this rare and precious token of
appreciation and affection of a hun-
dred millions of kinsmen upon the
tomb of his comrade, the soldier of
the mighty Empire!

Proudly and reverently, by author-
ity of the Congress and the President,
I call upon the General of the Armies
of the United States, fifth only in
line as the successor of Washington,
Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, to
bestow the Medal of Honour upon
this typical British soldier who,
though, alas! in common with thous-
ands of others, "unknown and uni-
dentified," shall never be "unwept,
unhonoured, and unsung."

6

FROM GENERAL PERSHING

Then General Per shin g said:

One cannot enter here and not feel
an overpowering emotion in recalling
the important events in the history of
Great Britain that have shaped the
progress of the nations. Distinguished
men and women are here enshrined
who, through the centuries, have un-
selfishly given their services and their
lives to make that record glorious.
As they pass in memory before us
there is none whose deeds are more
worthy, and none whose devotion in-
spires our admiration more, than this
Unknown Warrior.

He will always remain the symbol
of the tremendous sacrifice by his
people in the world's greatest con-
flict. It was he who, without hesita-
tion, bared his breast against tyranny
and injustice. It was he who suffered
in the dark days of misfortune and
disaster, but always with admirable
loyalty and fortitude.

Gathering new strength from the
very force of his determination, he
felt the flush of success without un-
seemly arrogance. In the moment
of his victory, alas! we saw him fall

in making the supreme gift to human-
ity. His was ever the courage of
right, the confidence of justice. Man-
kind will continue to share his tri-
umph, and with the passing years
will come to strew fresh laurels over
his grave.

As we solemnly gather about this
sepulchre, the hearts of the American
people join in this tribute to their
English-speaking kinsman. Let us
profit by the occasion, and under its
inspiration pledge anew our trust in
the God of our fathers, that He may
guide and direct our faltering foot-
steps into paths of permanent peace.

Let us resolve together, in friend-
ship and in confidence, to maintain
toward all peoples that Christian
spirit that underlies the character of
both nations.

And now, in this holy sanctuary, in
the name of the President and the
people of the United States, I place
upon his tomb. the Medal of Honour
conferred upon him by special Act of

7

the American Congress, in commemo-
ration of the sacrifices of our British
comrade and his fellow-countrymen,
and as a slight token of our gratitude
and affection toward this people.

On the conclusion of his speech the
Congressional Medal of Honour was

handed by Admiral Niblack to Gen-
eral Pershing, who, stooping down,
laid it on the grave, above the breast
of the unknown hero beneath. Shin-
ing there, with its long ribbon of
watered blue silk, it lay, a symbol
of the past, a pledge for the future.
And General Pershing stood at the
salute to his fallen comrade.

FROM THE DEAN OF WESTMINSTER

The Dean of Westminster then returned thanks in the follow-
ing words:

It is with feelings of profound and
respectful gratitude that we of this
ancient Abbey of Westminster receive
the noble tribute of your great
country's sympathy with the suffer-
ings endured and the sacrifices made
by Great Britain and her Dominions
Overseas. We thank you for the
gracious act which you have done
and for the eloquent words with
which you have accompanied it.

The Congressional Medal of Hon-
our which General Pershing, whose
presence with his men is to us an
inspiration, has laid upon the grave
of the Unknown Warrior is an added
pledge of the brotherhood of our
people in the days of peace, as in the

days of war. God willing, provision
shall be made for the safe keeping of
,this medal in a spot where historic
treasures are preserved, and where all
people are free to come and gaze.

Saxon and Norman, Plantagenet
and Tudor, are lying there at the
east end of this building and are
visited by thousands of your country-
men from year to year.

The history of those centuries is our
common heritage; but a new era has
opened. Modern history began with
1914, and the grave of the Unknown
Warrior is now the object of pilgrim-
age for all English-speaking peoples.
It is a symbol of our proud thanks-
giving for historic sacrifice made by

men and by women, sacrifice which,
thank God, was shared with Great
Britain and France by your noble

people in a great and terrible conflict,
which was waged for the liberty of
nations and for the freedom of mankind .

FROM THE PRIME MINISTER

And then, at the Dean's request, Mr. Lloyd George came to the
gravehead and spoke as follows:

It is my especial privilege on
behalf of the Government and of the
people of this country to express
their profound gratitude to the Presi-
dent and to the Congress of the United
States of America for this striking act
of homage to our valiant dead.

The action of the President and of
Congress has deeply stirred British
hearts. We know the value of this
famous medal. We know how jealous-
ly its worth has been guarded. We
know it represents, not merely in
purpose but in fact, the highest
distinction which the great Republic
can confer on valour amongst its
sons, and we also know that for two
generations it has been consecrated
by its association with deeds of con-
spicuous heroism amongst a con-
spicuously brave people.

We thank the American people for
conferring this, the highest tribute
of honour in their command, upon

the poor remains of a humble and
obscure British warrior who gave
his life for a noble cause. We thank
them for conferring this Medal of
Honour through the hands of the
distinguished soldier who played such
a notable part in the final triumph.
We thank the Ambassador of the
United States for his eloquent words.

This Empire , to its remotest corners
will not miss the deep significance of
this deed and of this day. We feel
we are taking part in no idle pageant.
The warrior who rests in this sacred
tomb is but a representative of nearly
1,000,000 British dead, from many
continents, who gave their young lives
freely not only for the honour of
their native lands but for human free-
dom in all lands.

The cause -for which they fell
America espoused in a critical hour

and helped to carry to victory, so that
the homage laid to-day on this grave
will remain as an emblem of a common
sacrifice, for a common purpose.

*

It will be a reminder, not only to
this generation but for all generations

to come, that the fundamental aims
of these two democracies are the
same, and it will be interpreted as a
solemn pledge given to the valiant
dead that these two mighty peoples
who were comrades in the Great War
have resolved to remain comrades to
guarantee a great peace.

When the speeches were over, the
Precentor offered prayers, during
which all the congregation stood: the
Lord's Prayer, and three special
Collects one for eternal peace upon'
all our brothers who fell hi the war,
one "that the two great peoples of
America and Great Britain may ever
go forward charged with the high
privilege of their stewardship for the
liberties of mankind," and the third a
thanksgiving for all who have fought
the good fight.

Of the Collects the first two were
written by the Dean of Westminster
the first adapted from one that he
composed for a previous ceremony,
the second specially written for this
occasion. Then the choir and many

of the congregation broke into the
famous "Battle Hymn of the Repub-
lic," during which the Duke of Con-
naught and General Pershing were
seen to be sharing an Order of

, Service.

$>

After the hymn the Dean, still
standing at the gravehead, spoke
the Blessing; then, from far away in
the east end of the Abbey, rang out
the "Last Post," which is now so
intimately linked in our memories with
honours paid to dead soldiers; and,
finally, to the same familiar tune,
English and Americans alike sang
two verses the first verse of "God
Save the King," arid the first verse
of "My Country, 'tis of thee" the
British National Anthem and the
American National Anthem.

10

A WOMAN'S TRIBUTE"

The Message of the Double Line of Khaki
From the London Times, October 18, IQ2I

In Westminster Abbey, yesterday,
General Pershing laid the American
Medal of Honour upon the grave of
the Unknown Soldier of Britain.
The bright sunlight streamed through
the high stained-glass windows in
long shafts of light that fell warm
upon the grey stone of the Gothic
arches, upon the quiet people in the
Nave, and around the flower-strewn
tomb, and that lay in a cloth of
scarlet on the flag above the body of
the Unknown Dead.

A thousand years of great history
stood silent within those old walls.
Close by are the tombs of Norman,
Plantagenet, Tudor, and Stuart Kings
and Queens, of the priests, and
soldiers and the sailors, of the poets
and statesmen that have made Eng-
land great.

As the organ filled the sunlit
spaces of the ancient church with its
deep volume of sound, there marched
up the aisle, with bared heads, a
detachment of British soldiers from
the Guard's regiments. As they

formed a line facing the centre, an
equal number of American soldiers,
bare-headed, marched up the other
side, and turning, stood facing the
British soldiers across the narrow

aisle.

<>

Both lines of khaki, both lines of
straight and young and clear-eyed
boys, both lines of men of Anglo-
Saxon blood, of the same standards
and of the same ideals they stood
there in the sunlight in that shrine of
a thousand years of memory, looking
straight into each other's eyes.

Between them, up the aisle, marched
the choir in their scarlet vestments
with their bright cross on high, the
generals, the admirals, and the Min-
isters of the Empire, and the Am-
bassador and the Commanding Gen-
eral of the Great Republic but in all
that they represented, and in all that
was said in the ceremonies that
followed, there was no such potent
symbol as those two lines of khaki-
clad boys, with the sun shining on

11

their bared heads, their brave young
faces, and their strong young bodies,
looking each other straight in the face.
Between them lay, not the narrow
aisle, but a thousand leagues of sea,
the building of a new world, the
birth of a new destiny for man. But
as they stood there where they
could have touched hands in the
old Abbey which was a shrine for
their common ancestors, they were
so amazingly alike in bearing and
appearance that they ceased to be a
detachment of soldiers from two
different countries, and they became
a symbol of the illimitable potentiality
of a common heritage that heritage

of which the ancient Abbey was a
shrine the heritage of the ideals of
freedom, of order, of self-discipline,
of self-respect.

If any words spoken in the Abbey
could have conveyed a hundredth
part of what that double line of clear-
eyed boys said in utter silence the
world would have been a happier
place to-day. The old strength and
the new force of a common heritage
stood in khaki in the aisle of West-
minster Abbey bare-headed, to hon-
our the symbol of supreme sacrifice
to those ideals in the Cross of Christ
and in the body of an Unknown
Soldier.

12

THE VICTORIA CROSS

Awarded to America's Unknown Warrior

General Pershing was the guest of the Government at a banquet
at the Carlton Hotel. Sir Laming Worthington-Evans, M.P.,
Secretary of State for War, presided over a distinguished gather-
ing, and in the course of his speech announced that the King
had conferred on the Unknown Warrior of the United States the
highest decoration known to the British Empire the decoration
of the Victoria Cross.

In announcing the decoration the chairman said:

I propose this toast upon an occa-
sion unique in the annals of British
history, for to-day the people of the
United States, represented by General
Pershing, have bestowed the highest
Order it is in their power to bestow
not upon a King or a Prince but
upon one whose name is known to no
one but the Almighty. Solemn and
unique though this occasion is, we
can rightly say that here, indeed,
"there is nothing for tears."

We celebrate to-day as a day of
triumph and fame; for our Unknown
Warrior is more famous than even
the greatest of those whose names
ring out in the temple of British
chivalry. I recall the words of
Pericles:

"The whole world is the sepulchre
of famous men; not only are they
commemorated in their own country
by monuments and inscriptions, but
in foreign lands there dwells an un-
written memorial of them graven,
not upon stone, but upon the hearts
of men."

Truly the hearts of the American
nation must have gone out to our
Unknown Warrior when they were
prompted to tender at the hands of
General Pershing that unprecedented
honour which their Congress has
consecrated with the form and solemn-
ity of a great act of State.

The gift of America to-day marks
her intimate - association with the
ideal which the Unknown Warrior

13

symbolizes. He lies, a Briton in a
British grave, wrapped about with
the soil of France and honoured by
the homage of America, to be rever-
enced and remembered as the embodi-
ment of duty nobly done. He has
done his duty, we have to complete
his task.

A great step forward has been
taken by the summoning of the
Washington Conference. May the
same spirit of mutual accommodation
and fraternal affection as that with
which we stood together in the Great
War animate the representatives of
our nations to carry out the high
resolve that our dead shall not have
died in vain.

This great act of American friend-
ship which you, General Pershing,

have performed to-day, will find a
response in thousands of British
women's hearts, each one of whom
claims our Unknown Warrior as her
own. Every mother whose son was
missing will look with gratitude and
affection towards the people of Amer-
ica.

BRITISH EMPIRE'S TRIBUTE

As a further mark of gratitude and
affection, and as a tribute from the
people of the British Empire to the
people of America, I have it in com-
mand from the King to read to you a
telegram which he has to-day ad-
dressed to the President of the United
States. [The Secretary for War here
read the message from the King.]

14

FROM THE KING
TO THE PRESIDENT

I wish to express to you and to the
Congress and people of the United
States the warm appreciation felt
throughout this country of the tribute
which you are paying to-day to our
Unknown Warrior. The gift of your
Medal of Honour to a British comrade
in arms, whose tomb in Westminster
Abbey stands for all our best endeav-
our and hardest sacrifice in the war, is
a gesture of friendly sympathy and
good will which we will not forget.

On Armistice Day the representa-
tives of the British Empire in Wash-
ington will join with you in a cere-
mony held to honour the splendid
record of your own troops. I greatly
wish on that occasion to confer on
your Unknown Warrior our highest
decoration for valour, the Victoria
Cross. It has never yet been be-
stowed upon a subject of another

State, but I trust that you and the
American people will accept the gift
in order that the British Empire may
thus most fitly pay its tribute to a
tomb which symbolizes every deed of
conspicuous valour performed by men
of your great fighting forces, whether
by sea or land, upon the Western
Front.

I also send my heartfelt good
wishes to the great International
Conference which opens by your wise
initiative upon that day. My Min-
isters will, I know, strive as whole-
heartedly as yours to make that Con-
ference a sterling success. May they,
in common with yours, do all that
practical statesmanship can achieve
to perpetuate the comradeship of war
in the maintenance of peace.

GEORGE R.I.

15

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